On October 18, 2007, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, two former dropouts of the Arizona State University, were unethically and illicitly apprehended and imprisoned below the charges of divulging details regarding an adjudicators enquiry in their issue of Phoenix New Times, exposing the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The men were taken away in immaculate SUVs with Mexican license plates and retained into separate confinements which were both achieved by Sheriff Arpaio.

Joe Arpaio, well known as the anti-immigrant Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has over the years brutally tormented the immigrants by his exaggeratedly antagonistic law enforcement procedures. There were several events of Arpaio’s initiatives against immigrants which remained delimited and hidden for years, till they eventually became more apparent before almost 10 years.

After continuing his torment over the innocent immigrants, his activities finally gathered attention of the reporters. Arresting Larkin and Lacey turned out to be an act of doom for Arpaio for not only they were released within 24 hours of detention, but in the late 2013, Maricopa County had to pay up a total sum of $3.75 million to settle a lawsuit that Lacey and Larkin had trailed against Arpaio for unlawful arrest and exposing more of his derelictions and corrupt activities.

Arpaio was not in an expedient or beneficial situation since the settlement issue. He lost the reappointment for a probable seventh term as Sheriff and to his dismay, in July 2017, Arpaio was charged with allegation of disdain in court during the Melendres suit. Read more: Michael Lacey | LinkedIn and Jim Larkin | Crunchbase

However, his strong political involvement found him a spot of decent elegance within the Trump management and to the oval office. Having endorsed in the crusade for Donald Trump bought Arpaio a good place in Trump’s eye and hence was pardoned of all charges.

Over the following years, the business partners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, used the money achieved from the settlement to inaugurate the Lacey & Larkin Frontera Fund, with the intention of dispensing the proceeds from the defrayal to Latin-American groups throughout the state of Arizona.

The fund started to fight back in contradiction of the pomposity of Arpaio, making his goal of slurring the opposition even more challenging to achieve. There was a much sturdier stance against Arpaio and was charged with criminal contempt in 2017, with an offense that can be punished with a maximum sentence of six months. Hence the partners brought good use out of the settlement amount.

Village Voice Media Holdings, as the company came to be known finally, grossed a standing for long-form investigative reporting and magazine-style feature writings and local events.